Everything tastes better when it is cooked over a campfire. It is a truth universally acknowledged. That’s why Dinty Moore Beef Stew tastes like nectar after a long hike. That’s why those extra crispy bits of charred marshmallow are savory and delectable, the stuff of summer memories. There is more to cooking over a campfire than s’mores, but they are the beginning. There is panoply of meals that can be prepared over an open flame – it is your decision whether to take them on the camping trail, or stay in your own back yard.

Preparing your own food as a child is thrilling. It’s nighttime, and you are in the backyard. You’re allowed to play with fire. You’re encouraged to jab with sharp sticks or sharper skewers. You’re in charge. It is the beginning of your journey toward epicurean independence, and the stakes start low – with marshmallows.

There are distinct stages of marshmallow appreciation. It might take all summer for all the lessons to add up; acquiring knowledge and experience can be slow and measured. First: gobble up some raw marshmallows, right out of the bag. They are cold and powdery, with a delightful give as you bite, leaving tooth marks in the plump, yielding sponginess. After skewering a marshmallow, or two, or three, you learn how to delicately twirl and rotate the marshmallow a few inches above the open flame, lightly browning the exterior. You are perfecting your technique while you watch the marshmallows cooking in the hot gasses emitted by the dancing flames. You are learning science and compromise, because, undoubtedly, you are sharing this fire with a sibling. Diplomacy becomes important – which color flame produces the best marshmallow, and where is it in the campfire? Is it possible to share? Compromise or dominate?

After settling back on your camp stool, it is time for another taste test. Hmmmm. There is now a caramelized crisp surface, yielding a warm, runny center. With trial and error you are becoming a judicious connoisseur. Next, smug and secure with your new skill set, throwing caution to the winds in your sugar rush, you allow the marshmallows to catch fire, watching the blue flame engulf the surface: crisping, caramelizing, scorching, blackening, and incinerating before you blow it out. (Remember those lava-lamp marshmallows you weren’t fast enough to salvage? How they bowed and sagged and dripped off the skewer into the grass?) Delicately nibbling the remnants of the next batch, you have discovered that there can be too much of a muchness, and some restraint is necessary in life, and in marshmallows. This is a valuable cooking lesson.

A few how tos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%27more

Classic S’mores: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/classic-smores-recipe-2108470

Sadly, there are s’mores kits available for the folks who require such things. They are expensive and fussy. The Spy has higher expectations. Remain true to the classic s’mores: https://food52.com/shop/products/2069-diy-s-mores-kit-set-of-2?

Although this sounds intriguing:
https://www.delish.com/cooking/a22550134/smores-grilled-cheese-recipe/

And soon it will be time to advance to hot dogs.

“The echoes of beauty you’ve seen transpire,
Resound through dying coals of a campfire.”
-Ernest Hemingway

The Fourth of July is just around the corner. I am getting ready to start assembling our annual red, white and blue festive and oh, so patriotic, cake. I slather a sheet cake with a thick foundation of whipped cream, pile on stripes of strawberry slices, and fill a square field with blueberries. It is always messy, but invariably it is deelish, so it makes up for heating up the kitchen for an hour while baking it. I’ll do that baking early Sunday morning, when it is still relatively cool.

While the cake is baking, I will start preparing a couple of sheet trays of vegetables to roast under the broiler, to make a vat o’salsa to get us through the holiday weekend. If I am going to be in a hot kitchen, I am going to prepare a significant amount of food that will last us a few days. A sheet cake will be desserts for the next week, and so far, last weekend’s salsa saw us through one cocktail hour, one taco dinner, one grilled chicken dinner, one scrambled egg breakfast, and one chips and salsa lunch. I like its versatility. And I enjoy the cheap pyromaniacal thrills I get in roasting the vegetables.

Sure, you can roast vegetables on the grill. It is fast, and creates a more uniform char than roasting under the broiler. But it is not as thrilling. How often do you get to blow out a blackened home-grown tomato that is engulfed in a little blue flame? Tiny, domestic fireworks, that are completely legal. Perhaps I do need to get out of the house a little more.

I did not realize until I had made this particular salsa that Mr. Sanders has never been a big salsa fan. Usually I made it in the summer for small cocktail parties – but we haven’t had any of those lately. I had been bringing home store-bought deli containers of pre-fab salsas. Luckily, this salsa he gobbled up, because the vegetables were sweetened by the roasting process, and we were using homegrown tomatoes. It’s hard to go wrong with fresh, local produce.

The corn, tomatoes, jalapeños and onions (both Vidalia and green onions in my adaptation) were scorched and sweetened by the gas broiler flame for about ten minutes (five or six minutes for each side). I added a goodly amount of garlic and a handful of fresh cilantro, whirred it all up in the food processor. Yumsters. There is summer, in a mouthful of sweet, hot goodness. I imagine you can recreate this all year ’round, but we have a windowsill-full of ripe tomatoes, and I don’t intend to waste a single one. Bring on the chips!

You can easily adapt the proportions to your own needs. It all depends on your available storage. I took the measurements as mere guidelines.

Roasted Corn and Tomato Salsa – adapted from The New York Times recipe by Martha Rose Shulman.

1 ½ pounds ripe tomatoes
1 or 2 jalapeños (halved, and remove seeds and stems)
1 ear of corn
½ small white onion
4 garlic cloves, peeled
Salt to taste
1 ½ teaspoons cider vinegar
⅓ to ½ cup chopped cilantro
2 chopped green onions, for decoration

You will need a couple of baking sheets, covered in aluminum foil. I sprinkled them with a little oil, so the vegetables wouldn’t stick.

Preheat broiler and set rack 4 inches below.

Place tomatoes and jalapeños on one of the baking sheets and set under broiler, about 4 inches from heat. Broil for about 6 minutes, until skins are charred and blackened in spots. Using tongs, flip over tomatoes and jalapeños and continue to broil for another 5 or 6 minutes. Put tomatoes and jalapeños, along with any juices in the pan, into a bowl and cool.

Put the corn on baking sheet and set under the broiler. Broil 2 to 4 minutes. Corn should be nicely browned on one side. Roll over and broil again for 2 minutes Remove from heat, cool, then cut kernels from cob and set aside.

Turn heat down to 425°F. Break up Vidalia onions into rings and place on baking sheet in a single layer. Add garlic. Roast, stirring every 5 minutes, until onions have softened and are browned and charred on edges and garlic is soft and browned in spots, about 15 minutes.

Once all the vegetables have cooled, slide the charred skins off the tomatoes and discard. Keeping all the juice, put the roasted veggies into a blender or food processor. Add cilantro, vinegar and salt. Whirr it up for a couple of seconds, until you arrive at your preferred chunk size. You might want to thin it with a little water, but we found ours was juicy enough. Add chopped green onions. Test with a nice, crisp, salty corn chip. Repeat. Yumsters.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016680-roasted-corn-and-tomato-salsa

Here are some variations:
Perfect Grilled Corn Salsa:
https://minimalistbaker.com/perfect-grilled-corn-salsa/

Roasted Corn Salsa:
https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/roasted-corn-salsa/

If you want to roast your corn over an open flame, here is the recipe for you!
Fire Roasted Corn and Tomato Salsa:
https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/fire-roasted-corn-and-tomato-salsa-3644953

Welcome summer. We are ready for you!

“It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.”
– Lewis Grizzard

The past couple of days of early summer have been sunny, bright and breezy. It has been a pleasure to walk with Luke the wonder dog. The heat of the afternoons had slowed down his pace, but instead of darting from shadow to shadow, looking for relief from the sun these days, we have been lengthening our steps and enjoying ourselves. The self care is suddenly more enjoyable and less dutiful; it is an early summer pleasure.

Nothing perfectly symbolizes summer like a watermelon. The best ones are cool and sweet, dripping with juices, seeds, and dreams of summer vacations. Whoever came upon the devilish idea of creating seedless watermelons was never a child. I still cling to the memories of sitting on the back porch steps, spitting seeds back at my brother, who had much better aim. Those are high quality memories of an un-air-conditioned house, where we were outside, waiting for the fireflies start twinkling on and off near the forsythia bushes. It was summer, and we were amusing each other.

Now we are gearing up for the Fourth of July. There are so many summer treats we are going to rediscover. It’s my time of the year to abandon the stove, and stake out a shady corner on the back porch, while Mr. Sanders approaches the podium, and fires up the grill. Summer is time for steaks, burgers, brats, hot dogs, Italian sausage, ears of corn, and watermelon.

I feel like such a johnny-come-lately with my recent discovery of Chef Matthew Raiford. I guess I haven’t been paying enough attention. He is, after all, a James Beard Best Chef finalist. https://www.chefarmermatthew.com And he is all over Food52 and other food publications of note as well as podcasts such as Splendid Table and Jupiter’s Almanac. He is a sixth-generation farmer of Gilliard Farms in Coastal Georgia. The farm was established in 1874, is organic, and has never used chemicals. “I always loved the food that I came from. I just loved it. Growing up, I had my Nana, my great-grandmother, my dad — all these people cooking around me.” His enthusiasm for food is palpable. I wish I could eat one of his Rattlesnake Watermelons. (Look for his video of grilling watermelon on his Instagram feed if you want some divine inspiration: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQRPvg9gkUs/)

It never occurred to me that watermelon could be grilled, let alone paired with tomatoes. What have I been thinking? It is summer, and the watermelons and tomatoes are ripe. At least I have the homegrown tomatoes and basil to contribute to the recipe, along with my basic, farm stand watermelon. It’s not fancy, just delicious. Let the summer games begin!

Matthew Raiford’s Watermelon Steak Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes and Sangria Vinaigrette: https://food52.com/recipes/85796-watermelon-steak-salad-recipe

If you don’t want to grill your watermelon, here is another recipe for tomato and watermelon salad: https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/marinated-watermelon-tomato-salad

Perhaps you would like to entertain yourself with an adult beverage? Allow me to suggest a Watermelon Margarita. Completely enjoyable and deelish: https://www.acouplecooks.com/watermelon-margarita/

If you have a rainy day, and must stay inside, at least you can use your time productively, and make some pickled watermelon rind: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/pickled-watermelon-rind-51242090

“But in a jar put up by Felicity,
The summer which maybe never was
Has been captured and preserved.
And when we unscrew the lid
And slice off a piece
And let it linger on our tongue:
Unicorns become possible again.”
-John Tobias

This will answer any questions you might have about the care and feeding of watermelons: https://www.watermelon.org

We are lucky to be celebrating a series of social events denied us last year. After being locked down for so long, there is an embarrassment of riches laid out before us this weekend: Juneteenth (our newest federal holiday), Father’s Day, and the Summer Solstice. Let the summer games begin!

Here is the latest update from the Spy Container Garden 2021: we have tomatoes. And a few of them are turning red. I listened to latest episode of The Splendid Table podcast while Luke the wonder dog and I were working on our 10,000 steps the other day. It is delightful episode about June in three regions of the United States: https://www.splendidtable.org/episode/2021/06/11/3-junes One of the guests interviewed was Chef-Farmer Matthew Raiford, who farms and cooks in Coastal Georgia. He said there are three essentials that must to be ripe by the Fourth of July: corn, tomatoes and watermelon. The Spy on track for the tomatoes, with one is ripening on the vine, and another is pinking up on the kitchen windowsill.

Tomorrow is Juneteenth. Juneteenth commemorates the day when the last enslaved African Americans in Galveston learned they were free. Red is a powerful color, and red foods are important to Juneteenth celebrations: red beans and rice, strawberry soda, watermelon, red velvet cake, barbecued meats, and, of course, tomatoes. https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/a36479941/juneteenth-food-traditions/

Fresh tomato tarts are perfect to bring to your Juneteenth celebration. They aren’t fancy, but they are beautiful, and they are deelish. I found a few tomato tart recipes which showcased the beauty of tomatoes. The tarts are simple to put together and can be brought to potlucks and picnics all tomato season long. They are divine warm, or at room temp. You can use store-bought tomatoes if you must, but it is smugly satisfying to use the ones grown in your own back yard. Save the store-bought card for the pie crust.

I adapted this recipe from the New York Times:
Pie dough
1 ½ pounds ripe tomatoes (about 4 medium)
¼ cup pesto*
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (I used some left-over mozz from last week’s Friday Night Pizza, and added another handful of ground Parmesan cheese)
1 tablespoon torn fresh basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 large eggs
⅓ cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon Maldon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

*For the pesto I tossed a fistful of basil leaves (we have basil growing in abundance on the Spy Container Farm this year!), a clove of garlic and about 1/4 cup of olive oil into the blender and blended it until it was a bright emerald green liquid. Then I spread it with a pastry brush on the browned pie crust.

• Heat oven to 350°F. Fit the rolled-out dough into a 9-inch tart pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork.
• Bake for 15 minutes, until beginning to brown at the edges. Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
• Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes into 1/2-inch slices. Place in a colander to drain excess tomato liquid for 20 minutes.
• Spread pesto in an even layer over the pie crust. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella and Parmesan over the pesto. Scatter the fresh, torn basil and oregano over the cheese.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, salt and pepper.
• Neatly place the sliced tomatoes evenly over the cheese and herbs in overlapping concentric circles. I found this process strangely soothing, although I heard Julia Child’s voice in my head: “It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate — you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.”
• Pour the custard evenly over the tomato slices. Bake until the filling is set and won’t jiggle when shaken, about 35 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving warm. This tart can also be served at room temperature. It is also delicious cold, eaten out of the fridge for lunch, when you are suddenly ravenous and can’t be bothered to make a delicious tomato sandwich from the bounty on the windowsill.

This tart was lighter than a frittata or quiche.

There usually is a paywall challenge with New York Times articles, but here is a link to the recipe, just in case: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021252-heirloom-tomato-tart?

Variations:

Easy: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/never-fail-tomato-tart

Fancy: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/annas-tomato-tart-3756210

Very involved: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/tomato-tart-recipe-fresh-herbs/

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
— Toni Morrison

Once upon a time, long ago in the golden age of travel and visiting folks, we stopped to see friends who live outside of Philadelphia. Our Mr. Smith is a fabulous cook, and the meals he prepares are the stuff of legend. He made an impressive Dorie Greenspan chicken recipe for our dinner. His version of Dorie’s “Chicken in a Pot: The Garlic and Lemon Version” was a show stopper. (The dish is the cover photo for her book “Around My French Table” https://www.eatlivetravelwrite.com/2015/05/french-fridays-with-dorie-chicken-in-a-pot-the-garlic-and-lemon-version-the-final-recipe/)

Mr. Smith brought a large Dutch oven to the table, its lid was sealed with brown, baked dough crust. Dramatically, with a sturdy screwdriver, he broke the dough seal, and a billow of fragrant steam puffed out. The pope had been elected. This the first time I had ever seen that cooking technique. (https://www.meilleurduchef.com/en/recipe/flour-dough-sealing.html) After the applauding the special effects, we were delighted to hungrily fall on the wondrous garlic-y chicken casserole, while talking a mile a minute. And we resolved to replicate this dining experience at home.

The first couple of times Mr. Sanders attempted Mr. Smith’s chicken there were hits, and there were misses. He was fooled by the cover photo of the newly acquired cookbook, which shows a whole chicken inside the Dutch oven, instead of a more accurate and true-to-the recipe, cut-up chicken. It was pretty tricky trying to brown a whole bird, which he attempted, before re-reading the recipe. Which then necessitated buying a boning knife, so he could cut a whole chicken into pieces. (I would have bought chicken pieces, pre-cut, but I am a journeyman cook…) And then the seal that the dough was supposed to provide was not as tight as was required. So we bought a fancier Dutch oven, with a better fitting lid. It was slightly smaller than the previous pot. Which brought more complications to the process.

This is the time of year when I do my best to stay away from the kitchen and the heat of the oven. This is when I enjoy Mr. Sanders and his penchant for grilling outside on the back porch. We sit out there, tossing the ball for Luke the wonder dog, watching as fireflies begin to appear in the darkening hydrangeas. We enjoy the dissipation of the heat of the day, while he flips burgers, rolls foil-wrapped ears of corn, times the salmon, adjusts the chicken breasts. He is the grill master. Imagine my surprise last weekend when we spent an entire afternoon in the kitchen, almost following a Dorie Greenspan recipe for roasted chicken.

Mr. Sanders had originally intended to replicate Mr. Smith’s chicken-in-a-pot dish, as a Sunday dinner showpiece. We stopped by the farmers’ market on Saturday and picked up a chicken from our favorite poultry farmers, choosing a 4.5-pound bird. On Sunday, upon re-reading the original recipe, Mr. Sanders decided to opt for something new. He had flipped through the Greenspan cookbook and landed on “Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux”. Les Paresseux are lazy people. Certainly lazy people would never have attempted this dish, which required yet another trip to the fancy grocery store. We have a pot of rosemary on the porch, but no sprigs of fresh thyme or oregano, because the dried stuff would certainly never do. Nor did we have baby potatoes or four shallots, or French bread to line the bottom of the pot, absorbing juicy goodness while the chicken was cooking.

Les Paresseux chicken does not not need to be cut up, so it looks quite pretty. But our fat bird filled the fancy Dutch oven, snugly. There wasn’t enough room to add the newly acquired herbs, vegetables, garlic and French bread. Instead, he lined a baking sheet with parchment paper, drizzled them with oil, and roasted them separately. The chicken cooked by itself in the fancy new Dutch oven, without a top, without veggies, and without a dough seal.

This was the intended recipe: https://www.food.com/recipe/roast-chicken-for-les-paresseux-500592 Instead we had a simpler, improvised roast chicken, with a side of roasted veggies, and plates of bread and butter. https://www.markbittman.com/recipes-1/simplest-roast-chicken-8-ways with sheet pan vegetables. https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/sheet-pan-roasted-vegetables Simplicity. And it took all of a Sunday afternoon.

“One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends.”
–Laurie Colwin

Education doesn’t stop for vacations. You should learn something new every day, and often it can be surprising. Over the Memorial Day weekend we visited a vast farmers’ market in another city, and as we roamed the many booths and displays we were overwhelmed by the abundance of colorful items for sale: cut flowers, bedding plants, fruits and vegetables, smocked infant dresses, driftwood sculptures, honey, and baked goods.

There were huge displays of tomatoes: conventional red, slicing tomatoes, plum tomatoes, jewel-like multi-colored cherry and grape tomatoes. The bulbous and irregularly-shaped heirloom tomatoes glowed purple, yellow, orange and crimson. Grocery store stacks of trucked-in produce cannot compete with the wide array of glorious produce at a local farmers’ market. My mind raced while considering the permutations and possibilities of so many delicious choices – unlike the weekly confrontation with flavorless, hot house tomatoes and bland, boring lettuces.

One booth we visited had Kirby cucumbers, salad cucumbers, cabbages, kale, grape tomatoes, and shiny, red onions that were still attached to their leafy green headdresses. We saw a battered pickup truck whose entire bed was filled to the brim with sweet potatoes. Next to it was a display with freshly dug red potatoes, gleaming tomatoes, human head-sized cabbages, baskets and boxes of blueberries, many, many containers of strawberries, and watermelons galore.

We staggered around, awe-struck by the vast harvest spread out before us. And then we saw them: weird, alien creatures with green, pointy heads. It was our first encounter with pointed head cabbages. How had we never seen pointy cabbages before? Ignorance comes from rarely coloring outside the lines of the chain grocery store. Bring your mask and head outdoors to a farmers’ market or a farm stand this weekend, and see what you have been missing. You are sure to get an education and an appreciation for all the hard work involved in setting food down on your table.

I have since learned that pointed head cabbage (which is also called sweetheart cabbage) is softer and sweeter than the white and red cabbages I grew up on. I am planning on some innovative new coleslaws and stir fries this summer. I brought home a couple of pointed head cabbages, which should keep nicely in the fridge, while I do my research.

Classic coleslaw: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/coleslaw/

Pointed cabbage coleslaw: (There is a kitchen sink hidden in here, I am sure. As well as some whopping typos, still the cook’s enthusiasm is infectious.) https://myfattyassets.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/pointed-cabbage-coleslaw/

This is quick and easy and deelish – three of our favorite recipe qualities: https://schoolofwok.co.uk/tips-and-recipes/flash-fried-sweetheart-cabbage-with-dried-chillies-and-sweetened-soy

Here is a charming, and short, video on stir frying sweetheart cabbage:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg2_ZuyS3Tw&t=1s

“I said I ‘liked’ being half-educated; you were so much more ‘surprised’ at everything when you were ignorant.”
― Gerald Durrell

It’s Memorial Day Weekend! Hurrah! We can all use a three-day weekend to signal summer. We’ve got flag bunting draping the window boxes out front and I’ve strung lights along the back porch. We’ve already seen some fireflies return the compliment. Summer is almost upon us! Can grilled burgers be far off?

How will you be spending your Memorial Day weekend? As the COVID19 Pandemic seems to be winding down, we can look forward to some traditional Memorial Day activities roaring back, next year. Fingers are crossed that the annual Chestertown Tea Party will be flinging tea into the Chester River then.

This year we can take some time at the Chestertown Farmers’ Market on Saturday morning, stocking up on celebratory fruits and veggies for our homemade picnics and cookouts. https://townofchestertown.com/event/chestertown-farmers-market/2021-05-29/

And Saturday afternoon also brings the debut of the new mobile stage in downtown Chestertown. It’s going to be an event! https://townofchestertown.com/event/street-party-and-stage-debut/

If you are in Cambridge this weekend, the Pride of Baltimore will be dockside as part of its Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. It’s a free event. https://www.dorchesterchamber.org/events/details/pride-of-baltimore-ii-in-cambridge-6949

Easton will be holding its annual Memorial Day Parade and Celebration. Get out there and wave! At a safe, social distance, of course. http://www.eastonmemorialdaycelebration.com/parade-maps.html

There are so many possibilities for this upcoming weekend, especially now that many of us have gotten the vaccine.
I love ritual celebrations. I love small town parades. Once, back in our misspent youth, Mr. Sanders and his chums had a martini stand at the annual Memorial Day Parade. And in those days, when one could drink with impunity before noon, we sat in lawn chairs with martinis in hand, cheering as the Scouts, the school marching bands, the firefighters, some antique cars, town officials and proud veterans paraded past us. Then we went to a Memorial Day cookout in a park, under the trees, on the river. It was a warm and sunny day, as most happy hazy events tend to be remembered.

For this year’s Memorial Day cookout I suggest taking the easy route – we have spent a long time indoors, after all, and we aren’t used to all that cooking, apart from honing our pandemic sour dough baking skills. There is no need to get fussy as we start to socialize again: strawberries and ice cream, hot dogs and hamburgers are swell American foods, and are appropriate for any Memorial Day picnic. I usually whip up a batch of potato salad, but a bag of Utz sour cream and onion potato chips is never out of place.

Let’s find some more delicious hamburgers to cook. Hamburgers never grow old. Cook Out Season from Bon Appétit: http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/grilling-best-burgers

For our pescatarians, or the earnest folks worried about their carbon footprint, there are always tasty substitutions available: https://food52.com/recipes/83281-best-black-bean-burger-recipe or this from Martha: https://www.marthastewart.com/1043207/shrimp-burgers

Memorial Day is the tempting reminder that summer is within reach. That we will soon be able to enjoy the great outdoors, and this year, almost mask-free. There are waves to catch, baseball to watch, hikes to undertake, vistas to appreciate, and the wicker chair in a corner of the cool, dark, screened-in porch with a good book, are all calling out to you! Get out and enjoy yourself.

This is my Tried and True Potato Salad
This is a recipe that people actually ask for – and not just because they are my in-laws and trying hard to be polite! It that constantly evolves and adapts, and each summer brings a new twist. I don’t always have green onions – Vidalias work just fine. No red potatoes? Go for Russets. A little fresh thyme? Why not? It is dependable, tasty and can be adapted and stretched to feed the masses. Just add more potatoes and more mayonnaise. Particularly fine for large picnic gatherings, it tastes best if it has a little time to sit and mellow, so if you can make it in the morning, it is just right by suppertime.

Many, many servings…
2 pounds little new, red potatoes
1 cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise thinned with milk
1 bunch green onions, chopped
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Boil the potatoes until tender. While warm (but not still steaming hot) slice potatoes and begin to layer them in a large bowl – 1 layer potatoes, then a handful of green onions and salt and pepper. Pour on some of the mayonnaise mixture. Repeat. Gently stir until all the potatoes are coated. You may need to add more mayonnaise mixture when you are ready to serve, as the potatoes absorb the mayo.

Enjoy your weekend!

“I’m still passionately interested in what my fellow humans are up to. For me, a day spent monitoring the passing parade is a day well-spent.”
– Garry Trudeau

“Willy Wonka: Well, I told you I hadn’t quite got it right, ’cause it goes a little funny when it gets to the dessert. It’s the Blueberry Pie that does it. I’m terribly sorry!” -Roald Dahl

Pity poor little Violet Beauregarde. While touring Willy Wonka’s fantastical chocolate factory, the greedy little gum-chewer experiences the all the flavors and textures of a three-course dinner: tomato soup, roast beef, and blueberry pie (with cream) while munching on a specially Wonka-infused piece of chewing gum. Sadly, the formulation is a little wonky, and Violet is transformed into a large, violet blueberry. Even juicing can’t save that impulsive child. I just love a good cautionary tale.

I hope you are taking advantage of blueberries, albeit without Willy Wonka’s magic touch. Blueberries are easy picking for delightful and simple summery meals; all day and all night.

Mr. Sanders starts most mornings with blueberries. Sometimes he just rinses them off in a little strainer, and drops them into a bowl for easy munching. Or he mixes them with other berries and some yogurt. Sometimes he ladles a handful on top of a bowl of leaves and twigs and has a healthy, crunchy granola breakfast.

I like my blueberries as a special component: in piping hot, just baked blueberry muffins, with melting Irish butter, and the Sunday papers. Or in blueberry pancakes, with warm blueberry bursts in each mouthful. Nigel Slater has a divine recipe for blueberry French toast: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/may/09/nigel-slater-recipes-for-baked-peppers-and-blueberry-compote

Or, with a little planning, you can bake a breakfast cake. How perfect is cake for breakfast? A blueberry breakfast cake is the best way to start a day: https://amandascookin.com/blueberry-breakfast-cake/

Now that we are vaxxed (and I hope you are, too) we can entertain the notion of pot lucks again. This is an easy and unusual dish to bring to a Memorial Day get together: blueberry, corn and feta salad. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/white-balsamic-blueberry-corn-and-feta-salad/
Simple, seasonal, and not another platter of deviled eggs.

Here is another unique take on serving blueberries – from the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, of all places: https://www.blueberrycouncil.org/blueberry-recipe/roasted-blueberry-toasts/ It is simple and summery, and the perfect finger food when you are struggling to make small talk again. There is nothing like chasing spilled blueberries across the back porch to liven up an awkward moment.

Perhaps the Blueberry Council’s blueberry mimosas will smooth over any of your rusty social skills: https://www.blueberrycouncil.org/blueberry-recipe/blueberry-mimosa/ This is a fascinating and thorough website for learning all things blueberry: https://www.blueberrycouncil.org

Surely the ultimate blueberry moment is the first bite of pie. You might prefer your pie open-faced, lattice work, crumble, or with a second crust. It’s going to be a long summer, so try every variation. Our friends at Food52 have done lots of research, and lots of baking. I rely on them to guide me through these treacherous blueberry pie waters: https://food52.com/recipes/23647-rose-levy-beranbaum-s-fresh-blueberry-pie

“Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he ever wanted. He lived happily ever after.”
-Roald Dahl

Sunday is Mother’s Day, just in case you forgot. If you are reading this on Friday, it’s too late for you to mail a card, or to order flowers. Which supposes that you celebrate Mother’s Day. It was always a minefield when I was growing up. My mother stated loudly, and often, that, “It’s a Hallmark holiday. It doesn’t mean anything.” And yet, she seemed to enjoy the nosegays of flowers we pilfered from her garden, and our homemade, decidedly not Hallmark, cards: the power of Cray-Pas and oaktag.

I’m sure these popularized holidays are minefields in many other homes where lives are complicated. Mother’s Day might be painful for people whose mothers have died. There’s divorce. There’s estrangement. There’s distance. There are step-mothers. There are custody issues. Mothers go away. Boyfriends. Girlfriends. Uncomfortable situations and memories abound. However you spend Sunday, be nice. Smile, even if you are wearing a mask – people can tell the difference. A home-picked fistful of flowers might go a long way. And so would a phone call.

I’m planning on a nice, simple homemade breakfast. Our children have long since flown the coop, yet sometimes we look up with surprise that it is just the two of us again. We no longer have to make acres of pancakes, use a whole loaf of bread for toast, or fry a pound of bacon. We are adapting to recipes for two. I’ll mentally thank my mother for the family recipe for biscuits, which you will find on the side of the box of Bisquick. Mom did not enjoy cooking much, just the ceremonial bits like Christmas cookies, and birthday cakes, and the annual corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day. For her, less time in the kitchen meant more time in the garden, or more time reading. It is an admirable philosophy, and one I intend to practice this weekend.

Bisquick Biscuits
• 2 1/4 cups Bisquick mix
• 2/3 cup milk
• Heat oven to 450°F. Stir ingredients until soft dough forms.
• Drop dough by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. (I like to roll the dough out, and cut it into circles, using the ancestral biscuit cutter)
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. (Be careful, it is very easy to burn their bottoms.)
(These freeze nicely, so you might still have some in reserve for Father’s Day.)

Our clever friends at Food52 understand the primal need for biscuits, and not just for breakfast: https://food52.com/blog/13819-13-recipes-for-when-you-just-need-a-biscuit

Over at Bon Appétit, they get a little carried away with themselves. However, my friend who worked at Bon Appétit, taught me a less complicated way to prepare bacon, which leaves more time for the Sunday papers, because it is relatively hands-free. We use thick cut bacon, so if you use thinner bacon, keep an eye on things – you do not want it to burn.

Baked Bacon
• Pre-heat oven to 425°F
• Line a sheet with parchment paper
• Lay the bacon slices on the parchment paper (We figure on 2 slices per person, and 1 for the dog)
• Put sheet pan into the oven, and set a timer for 12 minutes (It is easy to get lost in the Style section)
Sometimes Mr. Sanders, who likes to fuss, will turn the bacon halfway through the cooking process. I ignore it.
• Take bacon out when it is done enough for you. Drain the pieces on paper towels. Make the dog wait until you have finished eating.
The fancier Bon Appétit way: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/brown-sugar-glazed-bacon

Whipped Cream Pat for Fruit
You must have fresh fruit for breakfast! And fruit bathed in our latest invention at the very least. We baked some cream puffs a couple of weeks ago, and improvised the most delicious filling ever in the whole wide world. We mixed whipped cream into the creme pat. Luckily, there was a large bowl of filling left over. You can be a reasonable adult and mix some whipped cream into vanilla yogurt if you want. Or you can be a cool kid, and try our mixture with your farm-fresh, you-picked-them strawberries. Make this ahead of time. Maybe for your Saturday night cream puffs.

Creme Patissiere
https://prettysimplesweet.com/creme-patissiere/
Add 2 cups of homemade whipped cream and combine. And now you see why we had leftovers. Believe me, you will enjoy this for a while.

We never know what is going on with other folks, so remember to be kind. Holidays can be anxious events. Make a nice, simple breakfast, read the paper, get out into the garden, pick up the phone.

“It was delightful to wake up early and refreshed, and come down to this sunshiny, cheerful breakfast-table, where, though nothing was grand, all was thoroughly comfortable.”
― Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

“I sit quietly and think about my mom. It’s funny how memory erodes, If all I had to work from were my childhood memories, my knowledge of my mother would be faded and soft, with a few sharp memories standing out.”
― Audrey Niffenegger